Thursday, July 23, 2009

If you watched the press conference given by our President last night you would have seen and heard him make comments regarding racial profiling in reference to a recent incident involving Henry Louis Gates being arrested for disorderly conduct by an officer who had arrived at Mr. Gate's residence in response to a call involving breaking and entering. Apparently Mr. Gates was locked out of his own home and had to jimmy his way in along with his driver, neighbors suspected a break in and called the police. According to the arresting officer Mr. Gates became belligerent towards him and so was arrested for disorderly conduct. The arresting officer Sergeant James Crowley has stated that he is not racist and will not apologize, in spite of requests to do so by Gates.

Given that Mr. Gates is a friend of the President I guess Mr. Obama couldn't help but to comment on the issue. Maybe he felt obligated to do so, which is understandable yet, I think that his coming out on any side was a tad bit premature and maybe completely out of place.

"He should steer clear of it if he doesn't know all the facts," said Patricia Lynch, 49, a consultant and graduate of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, as she emerged from a Boston cafe. "For any specific case, you have to go only by the facts of that particular case."

My sentiments exactly! I find it hard to understand why President Obama decided to comment on this incident when he admittedly did not know all of the facts for himself. It makes absolutely no sense.

Obama stated that while he doesn't know all of the facts of the incident, the Cambridge Massachusetts police "acted stupidly" in arresting Mr. Gates since he had already proven that he lived in the residence. What Mr. Obama fails to realize is the stupidity of his own statement on two fronts, first he admits not knowing all of the facts and then proceeds to comment on a case, implying racism took place without any clear evidence to prove it! Amazing! Second, Henry Louis Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct and not for breaking and entering as Obama's statment implies. According to a Boston Globe article, Officer Crowley was making his way out of the home when Mr. Gates followed him out continuing to be belligerent towards the officer, this is where and why he was arrested, not for trespassing or breaking and entering.

So my conclusion of the Presidents premature comments, without having all of the facts, is that he commented stupidly. While I admit that Mr. Obama is not a friend of mine, I can say with some assurance that what he said last night was stupid, without having all of the facts of course.

Here is a suggestion for our dear President, why not wait for all of the facts to come out first and then come out and make a comment either way. Sounds like the smart thing to do.